Tuesday, May 16, 2023

New Warning Issued Against Millions Of Infected Android Devices Being Shipped Out Of Factories

Top researchers from the cybersecurity industry are ringing the alarm against a huge supply of infected Android devices being shipped out of factories.

The news comes to us thanks to security experts at Trend Micro who says the matter is a huge and worrisome problem that entails a massive attack on the phone industry’s supply chain. This is because it’s not often that you hear about brand new devices having malware installed into them, right before they leave the manufacturing plant and enter the market.

And it’s shocking to note how those affected the most are budget-friendly devices but such an attack is also now going into a series of other tech gadgets like televisions, devices, and smartwatches too.

The issue was highlighted recently at a conference related to cybersecurity in Singapore where the experts claim the root of the cause might be due to harsh competition between the various equipment producers.

When experts went down to investigate what the matter was all about, that’s when it was mentioned how those in charge of producing such devices were not producing all of their parts. Some parts such as firmware were getting designed by third parties. And since the costs of such firmware continued to drop, the makers couldn’t charge funds for such devices.

Therefore, the goods began ending up with some extra silent plugins that were certainly not wanted to begin with.

Meanwhile, new reports from Trend Micro saw dozens of pictures in search of malware-infected software and around 80 kinds of plugins. Furthermore, researchers saw plenty of plugins that became a part of a big business model.

These happened to be a part of a large business model that had skyrocketing sales on the dark web and had been promoted across leading blogs as well social media apps too. Moreover, they’re they also have the tendency to steal sensitive data from one device and grab a hold of SMS texts while controlling accounts on leading platforms and making use of the products for advertising and related frauds.

The list of malicious activities taking place was quite extensive and that’s what is worrying people the most. Such plugins enable buyers to grab control of devices for nearly five minutes and make use of like exit points.

Right now, Trend Micro unveiled how the number or figure of Android device shipments has crossed the nine million count. These were shipped to various destinations around the globe and that is what’s causing more fear as millions are going to be affected.

Therefore, it’s a very serious attack on the supply chain and cannot be ignored for obvious reasons. Most devices were shipped in the Southeast Asian region as well as various parts of Eastern Europe.

Moreover, researchers claim right now that they are not willing to name the people in charge of this unlawful crime. However, at the same time, they did reveal the word China on several occasions.


Read next: 2023 Marked an Alarming Upsurge in Cyber Assaults on Governments
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

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